Tuesday, September 4, 2012

July Empties!

I didn't forget. This is how far behind I am. I meant to get this done before we left for vacation but I ran out of time. Warning: I've finished up a ton of stuff in July. Recyclables are piling up over here!

Again, this is in a random order.

1. Act Restoring Anticavity Fluoride: You need fluoride in your life. Also now in "modern times" (lol) we are drinking filtered and bottled water and the fluoride that is in our water supply does nothing for our teeth. Fluoride re-mineralizes "soft spots" on your teeth, that left untreated, will develop into cavities. So long story short, rinse with fluoride after brushing and flossing every day! :) Will repurchase.

2. Olay Luscious Embrace Cleansing Bodywash with Jojoba butter & crushed orchid extract.: I've had several of these from my coupon stockpiling days and by the 3rd or 4th bottle, I am quite sick of it. It has a pleasant but very strong floral/fruity scent. I don't think I will repurchase but I never had a problem with Olay bodywashes. This one is not particularly moisturizing.

3. Yves Rocher Botanical Scrub: I placed a Yves Rocher over the summer and I don't believe I ever blogged about it. It was a strange sale, it was place any side of order, free gifts, free shipping and a free product of your choice. So of course I picked a very expensive night cream. I will review later of course... But back to the scrub. The scent was unremarkable, has some nice botanicals; organic agave sap, organic almond kernel powder and sesame oil, apricot kernel powder, saro essential oil and Madagascar mangliferine (have no idea what that is!). But unfortunately is has larger synthetic scrubber beads and filled with parabens... Yuck. Will skip this one in the future.

4. Organix hydrating macadamia oil intensive moisture mask: I really need another one of these after my disastrous hair experience last week. I am working through not one but 2 Aussie 3 minute miracles at the moment. I didn't pack enough conditioner for our 2 week adventure at my brother's lakehouse and all the sun and swimming was extremely drying. (I grabbed the Aussies at CVS 2 for $6 with a $1 ECB and 2 $1 MC's. $1.50 a piece.) So yes, I will repurchase.

5. Suave Professionals Men 2-in-1 shampoo conditioner: This is been in the shower forever. It would probably take my husband 2 years to finish this bottle on his own. He bought this when he was away for work earlier this year. I ran out of shave gel so I used this. Not a bad alternative, but not ideal either. I can't guarantee this will be repurchased.

6. AVON Advanced Techniques Professional Hair Color: I should do a separate review on this and I think I will actually. But it's a nice color, it did turn a little orange on me but that's my hair talking, it likes to pull red. Nothing my purple shampoo couldn't handle. It comes with a pre-treatment and an after conditioner. I like that.

7. Johnson's natural head-to-toe foaming baby wash: I used this for my kids and my makeup brushes. I don't think I've ever used baby wash for my makeup brushes before. I really like that this was a foaming cleanser, rinses well and cleans very effectively. Need to repurchase!!!

8. Colgate Total Whitening: Not bad, not memorable either. Hey it's toothpaste and a necessity. I'm not that particular.

9. Pantene Beautiful Lengths Breakage Defense Shampoo: Nice shampoo. Pantene has never let me down. Yeah it coats your hair, etc, etc... But if you want fab looking hair, Pantene will not let you down. If you are scared of build up, have a few different brands in rotation. That's what I do! I rarely, umm, let's just get it out there, never just use one bottle of a single brand of shampoo. It just doesn't happen. Never happened growing up either. My mom always had different shampoos in the shower. See! Not my fault. :) Probably will repurchase in the future.

10. Green Cream High Potency Retinol: I need to do a separate review on this. And I will. Already repurchased and it's on auto-ship from dermstore.com.

11. John Frieda Sheer Blonde Enhancing Conditioner. So if you have blonde or highlighted hair, you need John Frieda in your life. This conditioner is lovely.

12. Target Up&Up Maximum strength acne medication benzoyl peroxide gel: I've been getting really weird breakouts, just one, every couple weeks or so consistently really, since we've been in NC. I am assuming it is from the humidity and the sweating and all the pore clogging associated with that kind of weather. I like Target brand products and used to buy them frequently. I picked this up for the treatment of that occasional blemish. However, I don't think this does anything! I think it's benzoyl, not Target's fault. I tend to see more results from salicylic acid. This is very drying though at a 10% strength. Be warned.

13. AVON Moisture Therapy: We've been flying through the lotion over here. Even though summer is hot in humid in NC, The sun and surf is very drying for this skin. This worked fine, not really the consistency I prefer. It's very watery and takes extra time to dry. I prefer a thicker cream/lotion. Smells like an AVON product. If you are in the know, you know what I mean!

14. Thicker Fuller Hair: Yes it's still full. This was one of those random clearance drugstore pickups. Didn't need it but at an insane price with coupons, I couldn't pass it up. I shouldn't have however. This stuff is crap. I really don't need to thicken my hair anyway. That was my fault. It leaves the hair sticky and stiff and you can't even get a brush through it. Blow drying my hair was an awful experience. I washed it out immediately. YUCK! Stay away!

15. Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller: Love this, need to repurchase. It's not completely empty but I think I've had it close to 2 years so it's time to repurchase. When I initially purchased this, I had my Northern pale skin going on and it was way too dark for under my eyes. I used it to conceal around my nose however and it worked out great. Since living in NC, my skin is much darker and I can wear this under my eyes. Still a touch noticeable, but with blending, it works out nicely. I have the non-tinted version currently in use, equally lovely but since the tinted matches now, I will repurchase when finished.

16. John Frieda luxurious volume full clarity purifying shampoo: Everyone should have a clarifying shampoo within reach to use, at the very minimum, once a week. This one is clarifying but not stripping, so I prefer this one. And it's by John Frieda. He never let's me down. I will admit in the beginning of our relationship, back in college, the products were quite drying, but now they are good. Need to repurchase.

17. Clearasil Rapid Action Face Wash: I have an automatic dispenser in my shower. I rarely use this for my face though. I use it mostly for my back and feet. Sounds weird to use it on my feet my the 2% salicylic acid really keeps my feet soft! The starter kit came with 2 refills and the automatic dispenser. I really like the dispenser. Perfect portion size. I am currently using the other refill.

18. Bath and Body Works Country Chic: I got this sometime last year or the year before for free during some promotion in-store. It has a strong floral/fruity/sweet scent. Not my favorite, but it smells nice. I just got a whiff of it and it reminds me of our house in NY... I probably won't repurchase. I don't find myself in B&BW very often unless it's the Buy 3, Get 3 sale every 2 years or so. :)

19. Schick Intuition Naturals Cartridges: I love these, I didn't realize how much I loved them until I got a 10-pack of the regular ones. The regular ones are causing subtle irritation, drying out the skin on my legs, my armpits absolutely hate them. I didn't realize my mistake and the difference until I compared the packaging. These are made with 100% natural aloe and Vitamin E. Got to love marketing "100% natural" but the original version irritates, the "natural" doesn't. So do I like the naturals version? Yes. I need to get some more.

20. Burt's Bees Citrus Facial Scrub: I absolutely love this stuff. The scent, the consistency, how it makes my skin feel, the fact that it is 99.93% natural. 99.93% hmmm.... I will repurchase this again and again. Though I haven't yet. It's very difficult to find around here. I thought Target had it but when I tried to repurchase, it wasn't on the shelf, ditto Walmart and CVS. I wonder if I ordered this on-line. I need to do some research. It does have a glass jar so careful in the shower. I don't mind it. I exclusively used it at the sink.

21. elf brush shampoo. Works really well, $3. Brushes nice and soft and clean. But I really like a foaming cleanser like the Johnson's natural foaming baby wash. I will have to price check though. I'm assuming elf is cheaper. But I still like baby wash better and I don't have to pick up 2 separate products. I like multitasking products. :)

22. Mary Kay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover: This was given to me by a former MK rep friend. I remember loving this stuff! Nothing took off my makeup gentler and thoroughly. Well what I didn't remember was cloudy, stinging eyes. I held on to this and tried it out every once in a while thinking that my sensitivity was a fluke, possible allergies though I've never had any... Well I will take that back, it seems when I move to a new place, VA, NY and now possibly NC, the first couple of months I might have watery eyes, etc... So I waited the grace period, but still cloudy, stinging eyes. It might have been expired. But I won't seek to repurchase. Currently I am using jojoba oil or olive oil. Still cloudy annoying eyes. I guess I used to ignore it. So currently I am seeking out an eye makeup remover!

23. Boots Overnight Skin Cream Bergamot: I grabbed this on clearance at Target of course. I loved it. Not for my face but my chest and hands. It has a lovely scent too. Pretty strong for those faint of heart (does that even make any sense?) but very lovely and luxurious feeling. It was a dip-in glass jar. I know how people feel about glass and sanitary issues with the dipping. But I liked it just fine. I would repurchase if they still sold it at my local Target. I checked, no dice.

24. John Frieda Precision Foam Cleanser Conditioner: This came in the box dye. I really wish they would bottle this up full size and sell it. There is definitely a market out there for it. Please John Frieda, please sell your box dye conditioner full size!!!

25. elf Golden Bronzer. I did hit pan on this. I absolutely love it. Will repurchase though I haven't yet. Though not completely used up, I had to pitch it after I used this and it broke out my neck. Big time. And yes it was this. I was bronzing up my neck one day for some reason. I'm hoping it was because it was expired or something. I don't remember it happening before. I hadn't used it since last summer and I believe it is about 2.5-3 years old. Need to look up expiration on products again and go through everything.

26. bareMinerals Active Renewal Night Serum: Lovely stuff and a good sample size to actually try it out. I currently have a full size Indie Lee Squalane oil. Not a need to repurchase right now. I did notice that it absorbs more readily than the Squalane oil.

27. Udderly Smooth Udder Cream: Last but certainly not least... I love this stuff! It goes on sale frequently at 99 cents at Rite Aid. Pick it up. You won't regret it. Takes care of dryness right away and is non-greasy. Has a nice scent and semi-thick consistency. Will repurchase at some point. Probably at Walmart. I have found myself in drugstores this summer, even though I banned myself. Oops! I'm still under 10 times though I've lost official count. So I think that's pretty darn good!

28. Dermalogica Clean Start hit the spot: This one has also benxoyl but at 5%. Still didn't work that great but I think better than the Up & Up. Not as drying but it is more of a gel and the Up & Up is a white cream. I could wear this during the day under makeup, Up & Up was strictly used at night. This came in a trial sized kit that was on clearance at our Marine Corps Exchange. I might be interested in picking it up again.

29. rareMinerals Blemish Therapy: I've had this for years. Literally years, like more than 5. I would pull it out every once in a while when I remembered I had it. Usually it was lost in the under the sink abyss. It was time to pitch.

Alright so there it is. July empties. Lots of plastic, a little cardboard and glass, all to be recycled.

A little disclaimer...

As you may already know, all product reviews and opinions expressed on Savvy Beauty are that of my own. I love all things beauty and whether or not I buy products for myself or on the rare occasion that I receive a product for review, only honest opinions based upon my personal experience will be shared.